Education

PhD, Johns Hopkins University, 1972

Overview

Trained at Hopkins in geography and environmental engineering (PhD '72) and postdoctoral fellow in Environmental Health Sciences ('72-75). NIH staff fellowship followed by senior scientist position at Environmental Defense and professorship at University of Maryland Medical School. Served as scientific advisor to NTP-NIH, CDC, EPA, DOE, OSHA, states of Maryland and New York, World Bank, ILO, UNEP, WHO, and PAHO.

My research and professional activities bridge science and public policy, with a focus on the incorporation of research in both toxicology and epidemiology into environmental and occupational health policy. Areas of current focus include: cardiovascular risks of arsenic, lead, and cadmium; immunotoxicity of mercury compounds; health and environmental impacts of industrial food animal production. These projects include epidemiological studies and mechanistic research on gene:environment interactions and the emergence and dissemination of antibiotic resistant pathogens in populations and in the environment. Some of this research is conducted internationally (mercury studies in the Amazon; lead/cadmium/arsenic studies in Mexico; mining and development in Mongolia; zoonotic diseases in Thailand and the Netherlands).

In 2016 I was appointed as special consultant to the WHO Food Safety Programme.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN WITH THE CHICKENS 2009 http://www.jhu.edu/jhumag/0609web/farm.html

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SPECIAL NEWS: In September 2016 my book, CHICKENIZING FARMS AND FOOD, was published by JHU Press. This tells how I got involved with studying antimicrobial resistance in agriculture, contests with government and industry, new discoveries in the lab and field, and proposes solutions to the way we feed ourselves in the 21st century.

The first review of this book appears Science

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/353/6304/1088.fulL. ADDITIONAL REVIEWS CAN BE FOUND IN KIRKUS, THE TIMES (LONDON) EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT.

Research Interests

industrial farming

food safety

molecular devices for pathogen detection

disease modeling

antibiotic-resistant bacteria

heavy metals

environmental and occupational health

Publications

I have worked in several areas of environmental and occupational health, including toxicology, microbiology, and epidemiology. Below are representative papers that demonstrate the relevance of these fields for understanding and, importantly, preventing these risks
In 2016, I published a book, CHICKENIZING FARMS AND FOOD, which deals with the history of intensive or industrial food animal production starting in Maryland and now the global model in agriculture, and the current problems of worker and food safety, environmental impacts, and community integrity.